Roadmap Towards Ending Tb In Children And Adolescents

Tuberculosis remains one of the most prevalent, deadly, and underdiagnosed infectious diseases in the world. In children, this burden is doubly problematic because of the disease's unique clinical characteristics and its need for special public health and diagnostic techniques. After decades of relative inattention to these factors, childhood tuberculosis has now grown into an important area of competency for child health programs in low-burden areas, including the United States. The Handbook of Child and Adolescent Tuberculosis is a state of the art clinical reference written and edited by the world's leading experts in childhood tuberculosis. It offers clinicians in any geography or setting practical, evidence-based advice on all aspects of the disease, including its natural history, epidemiology, presentation, treatment, and prevention -- all in a format that synthesizes literature with the clinical experience of the leading authorities in this challenging field. As the need for childhood tuberculosis services in child health programs grows, this handbook provides a new benchmark for practitioners and trainees in pediatrics, infectious disease, pulmonary medicine, and public health to better understand this persisting and difficult disease.

WHO has progressively strengthened its work for adolescent health, growing its portfolio of research, norms and standards, country support and advocacy, and expanding the scope of work across over 17 departments, regional and country offices to address the multifaceted needs of the global adolescent population. Central to a coordinated approach to adolescent health across the organization is the HQ Interdepartmental Technical Working Group on Adolescent Health and Well-being. In 2021, the group produced the first report on its work on adolescent health and well-being, celebrating efforts across many areas of work and all levels of the organization. This is the second in the series of biennial reports that comes on the wake of the Global Forum for Adolescents 2023 and is powered by its 1.8 Billion Young People for Change campaign. The report describes WHO’s efforts to elevate adolescent health and well-being through collaboration and by coordinating new initiatives, addressing emerging needs and establishing ambitious objectives with its development partners and adolescents. Target audience: this WHO serial publication is designed to be used by policy-makers, media and donors.

The aim of this operational handbook is to provide practical guidance on the implementation of the World Health Organization (WHO) policy recommendations on the prevention and management of TB in children and adolescents under programmatic circumstances and at different levels of the health system. The practical guidance aims to inform the development or revision of national policies and related implementation guidance (e.g. handbooks, standard operating procedures) on the management of TB in children and adolescents. This handbook can also help countries adequately plan for the uptake of interventions to better address the specific needs of children and adolescents with or at risk of TB. It can contribute to national efforts to build capacity among national and subnational programme managers and among health workers at all levels of the health care system. The target audience for this handbook includes NTPs and other child health programmes that provide care for children with or at risk of TB, including maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health programmes, HIV services, and PHC programmes. The handbook also targets paediatricians and other health care workers (HCWs) in the public and private sectors, school health services, civil society and community-based organizations, and health care educators.

The objectives of the 2022 consolidated guidelines are: to provide policy makers and implementing partners with evidence-based recommendations on the cascade of care for children and adolescents; to support the implementation of activities to prevent TB among children and adolescents at risk; to improve TB case detection and treatment outcomes in children and adolescents with TB using effective models of care; and to contribute to reductions in TB related morbidity and mortality in children and adolescents in line with global targets including those in the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the WHO End TB Strategy and the Political Declaration of the United Nations General Assembly High-Level Meeting on the Fight against Tuberculosis. The target audience for these consolidated guidelines consists primarily of national TB programmes (NTPs), primary health care (PHC) programmes, maternal and child health programmes, national AIDS programmes (or their equivalents in health ministries) and other health policy makers. They also target generalist and specialist paediatricians, clinicians and health practitioners working on TB, HIV and/or infectious diseases in public and private sectors, the educational sector, nongovernmental-, civil society- and community-based organizations, as well as technical and implementing partners.